New York City, Long Island to Ration Gasoline by License Plate Number

People wait on line to buy gasoline during the noreaster in Brooklyn on Thursday.

Gas rationing will begin Friday morning in New York City and on Long Island — establishing an odd-even license plate system for gasoline and diesel purchases – as part of an aggressive government effort to reduce long wait times at the pumps, officials said Thursday.

In New York City, only 25% of the roughly 800 gas stations are open, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it now appears there will be a gas shortages for “possibly another couple weeks.” The new rules to deal with the fuel shortage in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy begin at 6 a.m. Friday in the five boroughs.

“Drivers are still facing long lines. Frustrations are only growing,” Bloomberg said at a City Hall news conference. “The best way, we think, to cut down the lines and help customers buy gas faster, to help gas stations stay open longer and to reduce the potential for disorder is to alternate the days that drivers can purchase gas.”

Bloomberg signed an executive order that only motorists who have a license plate that ends in an odd number, or ends in a letter or other character, will be able to buy gas or diesel on odd-numbered days. Those with license plates that end in an even number or the number zero will be able to buy gas or diesel only on even-numbered days.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island will have the same rules. Westchester, Rockland, and Orange counties will not have fuel management measures at this time.

The regulations in New York come nearly a week after several counties in New Jersey imposed similar regulations.

Police officers in New York City will be deployed to gas stations to help enforce the order. “But we expect, as with the smoking ban, that new Yorkers will respect the rule and social pressure will help ensure compliance,” said the mayor, referring to the ban on smoking in restaurants, bars, city parks and beaches.

Bloomberg said this is not a step that “we take lightly” but it’s designed to “let everybody have a fair chance” and so the lines aren’t “too oppressive.”

“I understand it’s going to create inconveniences, but I ask New Yorkers to continue being patient,” he said.

The mayor warned against motorists changing license plates, saying the police can easily look at the registration on the windshield and detect the trickery. “So, don’t try to be cute,” he said.

Both Bloomberg and Cuomo said they had expected the fuel shortage to have abated by now, but officials said their expectation proved to be wrong.

Cuomo said Thursday the rules were necessary because of “additional fuel supply disruptions caused by the nor’Easter” that hit Wednesday night.

A partial failure of a terminal served by the Buckeye Pipeline, which pumps about 4.5 million gallons of gas per day into the city and the Long Island area, occurred due to power failures Wednesday night, official said. While power was restored Thursday morning, there was an interruption in the fuel supply chain to those regions.

Out-of-state plates will be subject to the same requirements. The rules do not apply to people filling fuel cans. And officials said the rules will last indefinitely, declining to specify a time when they’re expected to be lifted.
While most gas stations in the region have power, many are running out of gasoline because the distribution terminals near New York that supply stations with fuel remain offline.

The Department of Energy said that seven fuel terminals in northern New Jersey and New York City remain shuttered as of Thursday afternoon. An eighth terminal, operated by Motiva in Sewaren, N.J., began loading gasoline and diesel from fuel racks on Thursday.

“Power has been restored to the gas stations, so that’s no longer a problem. The focus now is on the fuel terminals. That is where the backlog is,” said Michael Green a spokesman for AAA.

Gas lines have shrunk in New Jersey and north of New York City, because gas stations in those areas have had an easier time bringing fuel from supplies in other regions, such as Philadelphia, Green said.

“The problem is really localized to New York City right now,” he said, adding that terminals haven’t provided a timeline for when they may be up and running. “They’ve been telling us soon, but we have no way of knowing.”

Motorists at the pumps said government officials should have imposed these rules sooner.

“It should have been done last week,” said Alan Clements, 53 years old, of Holbrook, who was filling up his tank at a Hess station in Ronkonkoma after waiting in line for about 15 minutes. “It’s too little too late because the lines are subsiding. This is typical government – a day late and a dollar short. Last week, the lines were insane. This week, they are only bad.”

Dina Fitchett, 51, of East Islip, said, “I’m surprised they’re doing it now. So, maybe that means it’s not going to get better for a while.”